Alice, I have been by: Melanie Benjamin

Alice, I have Been

By: Melanie Benjamin

Publisher: Random House

Format: Arc/Softcover

Release Date: January 12, 2010


I got this book in about two weeks ago for review and it's FANTASTIC ... I'll be posting my review soon! I can't express enough how WONDERFUL this book is! I'll be first in line to get my hardcover copy on January 12, 2010.

Want to know why? Let me tell you a little about the book:

Few works of literature are as universally beloved as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Now, in this spellbinding historical novel, we meet the young girl whose bright spirit sent her on an unforgettable trip down the rabbit hole–and the grown woman whose story is no less enthralling.

But oh my dear, I am tired of being Alice in Wonderland. Does it sound ungrateful?

Alice Liddell Hargreaves’s life has been a richly woven tapestry: As a young woman, wife, mother, and widow, she’s experienced intense passion, great privilege, and greater tragedy. But as she nears her eighty-first birthday, she knows that, to the world around her, she is and will always be only “Alice.” Her life was permanently dog-eared at one fateful moment in her tenth year–the golden summer day she urged a grown-up friend to write down one of his fanciful stories

That story, a wild tale of rabbits, queens, and a precocious young child, becomes a sensation the world over. Its author, a shy, stuttering Oxford professor, does more than immortalize Alice–he changes her life forever. But even he cannot stop time, as much as he might like to. And as Alice’s childhood slips away, a peacetime of glittering balls and royal romances gives way to the urgent tide of war.

For Alice, the stakes could not be higher, for she is the mother of three grown sons, soldiers all. Yet even as she stands to lose everything she treasures, one part of her will always be the determined, undaunted Alice of the story, who discovered that life beyond the rabbit hole was an astonishing journey.

A love story and a literary mystery, Alice I Have Been brilliantly blends fact and fiction to capture the passionate spirit of a woman who was truly worthy of her fictional alter ego, in a world as captivating as the Wonderland only she could inspire.

Watch for my review soon...

Kisses~XXX

A Geektastic Giveaway!

Geektastic - Stories From The Nerd Herd
By: Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci
Entire list (found here)
Publisher: Little Brown Young Readers
Available: August 1, 2009
Binding: Hardcover
Pages: 416

Buy The Book - Here!

What's Geektastic ~ Definition




About this book:

Acclaimed authors Holly Black (Ironside) and Cecil Castellucci (Boy Proof) have united in geekdom to edit short stories from some of the best selling and most promising geeks in young adult literature: M.T. Anderson, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Tracy Lynn, Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Barry Lyga, Wendy Mass, Garth Nix, Scott Westerfield, Lisa Yee, and Sara Zarr.

With illustrated interstitials from comic book artists Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O'Malley, Geektastic covers all things geeky, from Klingons and Jedi Knights to fan fiction, theater geeks, and cosplayers. Whether you're a former, current, or future geek, or if you just want to get in touch with your inner geek, Geektastic will help you get your geek on!

About the Cover:
(taken from web)

If you look closely at the cover of Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd, edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci (Little, Brown, Aug.), you’ll notice that many of the avatars look exactly like M.T. Anderson, Kelly Link, Scott Westerfeld and other well-known writers. No coincidence, since the 20-odd writers on display on the jacket all contributed stories to the collection.

Thoughts:

I've heard a whole lot about this fantastic book and was totally blown away when I finally got to read it! This anothology covers everything from Star Trek to Star Wars and all that is GEEK in between.

At the end of each of the 15 stories told by some of the best names in YA, you'll find their cartoon "geek" self drawn with the author's bio in a "Speach Bubble" coming out of their mouths. Really cute. Laugh out loud funny and more geekiness that one can handle, there's something in this anthology for everyone! Each story is also separated by a full page comic!

This book will satisfy the inner geek in all of us, no matter what the age!

About the Authors:

Holly Black is the bestselling author of The Spiderwick Chronicles and Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside. She lives in Masschusetts with her husband Theo.

Cecil Castellucci is the author of Boy Proof, Queen of Cool, Beige, and The Plain Janes. She is a writer, filmaker, actress, and singer-songwriter. She lives in Los Angeles.

Play the Geektastic Game - Here!

Read A Geeky Excerpt - Here!

GIVEAWAY!!

Ready to Get Your Inner Geek On?

Thanks to Alice of Little Brown Young Readers

THREE Of My LUCKY Readers Will WIN A Copy Of Their Very Own!!

Books will be coming directly from LBYR so there are two rules

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Thank you ALL for Stopping By!

Without you, your comments and imput, this blog wouldn't

be able to continue to grow!

KISSES ~ XXX